The latest assessment of the Social Health Authority’s (SHA) new health insurance scheme shows that rampant corruption persists, two months after it replaced NHIF.

Some private facilities that received payments for last month were unsure about its purpose, says a report from the Rural and Urban Private Hospitals Association of Kenya (RUPHA).

This, RUPHA says, means the transition from NHIF to SHA is only on paper and not practical as the new scheme was expected to address those challenges.

“Transparency issues persist, with 22 percent unsure about the purpose of payments received,” RUPHA said in the report, “SHA Transition Survey Results for December 2024”.

The providers who reported receiving payments for November said the money was mainly for outpatient care, exposing facilities to financial distress, which was worsened by reduced capitation payments and delayed reimbursements for care under NHIF.

Some 39 percent of health providers have not been paid, the report says.

This is the sixth scorecard for the SHA scheme, with the survey revealing persistent challenges across multiple metrics, contributing to an overall SHA transition score of just 46 percent, unchanged from November.

“This indicates stagnation in progress, with key systemic issues yet to be addressed,” the report says.

The report surveyed 219 hospitals across Kenya, including private and public facilities from Level Two to Level Five, using phone interviews and online questionnaires.